saison mead

[homoeccentricus]

Since I am Belgian I want to try a Belgian saison mead. I found a recipe here: http://meadist.com/making-mead/mead-recipes/saison-mead-recipe/, but would it also be possible to make something similar without boiling the honey, using staggered addition of nutrients, etc.? How about the saaz hops? Make a hop tea first?

Also, was thinking of adding blood orange in secondary. Good idea?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I have a saison mead with the honey not being boiled. If you use a little DME you can boil the hops with that. Just hops and water will not get as effective of bitterness.
http://hivemindmead.blogspot.com/2014/02/peppercorn-saison-mead.html

You may even want to consider just dry hopping it instead of boiling the hops it like a traditional beer (since this is mead not beer). Either way, I wouldn't go about boiling the honey.

 

[homoeccentricus]

Yes, but as a beer brewer I don't think dry-hopping AND adding blood oranges to secondary is a good idea. Do you?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Why? Dry hopping won't add any bitterness, just hop aroma. You'll get plenty from blood orange pith.

And remember with a mead, and saisons in general, they are pretty dry and you'll be finishing around 1.005 or lower, so any bitterness you get from hops or otherwise will be much more forward than something with a higher final gravity.

 

[homoeccentricus]

I know that. It's the combination of hop aroma and blood orange aroma that I'm worried about. Not sure whether they go together well...

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Maybe if you went with a more citrusy hop, such as Citra or Cascade? Just throwing ideas around now.

 

[Fathand]

I know that. It's the combination of hop aroma and blood orange aroma that I'm worried about. Not sure whether they go together well...

They go together great in beer. Sam Caglione of Dogfish Head has a very famous Blood Orange Hefeweizen recipe that uses Saaz hops and Blood Oranges. I've made it once myself and it was very tasty.

Now if that translates to a mead with a saison yeast I can't say.

 

[biochemedic]

I did a "Belgeglin" mead once using bitter orange peel and coriander seed and Wyeast 3711...came out great even unhopped, but now that you mention it, it would be great with dry hops as well! not sure it really would need any hop bittering...I made mine dry, and there was plenty of bitterness from the orange peel...
Bitter orange peel might be more Saison authentic than adding blood orange to secondary...

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[homoeccentricus]

Orange peel and coriander are typical of the Belgian witbier, not the saison. The reason why I am reluctant to add hops is that if I wanted to make a real saison, I would brew a saison beer . Currently I am more interested in what the saison yeast does to the honey. I seems to be one of the relatively few beer yeasts that can handle high gravity. I assume it'll make the mead bone dry - which is good, and still do something in the mead that your average wine yeast does not do.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Any yeast will make a mead bone dry if you treat it right. Honey is wayyyyyyyyyy more fermentable than mashed grain. My saison mead tastes... Like a saison, with some honey notes. Saison yeast as you know makes a very bold distinct character that's hard to miss.

You should also remember that (to me at least) a mead finishing at 1.005 or so isn't even super dry. It's dry, but not incredibly; where a beer at 1.005 would be.

 

[homoeccentricus]

Just read in the thread " Default Bray's One Month Mead " it is claimed that saison tastes "like ass"... So maybe I want to go for the Duvel yeast anyway...

 

[BlochBaron]

I did a "Belgeglin" mead once using bitter orange peel and coriander seed and Wyeast 3711...came out great even unhopped, but now that you mention it, it would be great with dry hops as well! not sure it really would need any hop bittering...I made mine dry, and there was plenty of bitterness from the orange peel...
Bitter orange peel might be more Saison authentic than adding blood orange to secondary...

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app

Did it still have to age for 6 months, or was it ready quicker than mead with a wine yeast?

 

[biochemedic]

Did it still have to age for 6 months, or was it ready quicker than mead with a wine yeast?

I just checked my notes, and I bottled this just shy of 3 months, and it was easily drinkable at that time...it has aged well also.

FWIW, though, most of my mead is ready in far less than 6 months...good pitch rates, staggered nutrients, oxygenation, degassing and even cursory measures to control ferm temps will surprise you at how quickly mead becomes very good and drinkable...